Optimisation of a grass cutting blade using design of experiments with qualitative and quantitative performance metrics

Design of experiments is a branch of applied statistics that deals with the preparation, undertaking, and analysis of experiments used to investigate the effect of parameters or factors on response variables. Under the appropriate assumptions, design of experiments can enable information to be obtained more efficiently than conventional “one factor at a time” approaches. This study shows how design of experiments can be used for product development in agricultural applications, as demonstrated by the optimisation of a grass cutting blade. Particular attention is given to the collection of valid, reliable, and reproducible quantitative and qualitative results, which can be challenging in the field of agricultural engineering due to the influence of variation from the experimental environment. Significant improvement in performance is obtained when compared to a pre-existing product.